Natalie Merchant joined 10,000 Maniacs when she was 17, had a long and successful solo career and then began teaching children in New York State. Realising the value of rhymes and theatre, her adaptation of Mother Goose (played by herself) was expanded into a multi-media performance with 150 four-year-olds and recorded with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. She even made most of the costumes. And she’s never had an audience reaction as enthusiastic and emotional. It’s a magnificent project to give children experiences that modern life rarely affords “right down to the thrill of seeing people play real instruments”. She talks to us here from her New York home about ‘Cabinet Of Wonder’, along with …

… her first stage appearances, aged seven

… scanning record collections and thinking “if they don’t have a copy of Nico’s ‘Chelsea Girl’, we can’t be friends!”

… how improvising lyrics got her into 10,000 Maniacs (“who I wanted to call the Tunda Bunnies”)

… seeing Styx, the Cars and the Clash playing ‘Combat Rock’

… how she and her daughter grew up in homes without TV

… and the threat of future education run by avatars.

The Cabinet of Wonder website: https://cabinetofwonder.org

And the multi-retailer link for the album: https://cabinetofwonder.lnk.to/album

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